Friday, we went to see if we could find the Arizona Trail at the corner of Suhuarita Rd and Highway 83, about 11 miles southeast of the fairgrounds. We parked on a area along 83 with about 5 other vehicles. A short distance east, we saw a few cars parked on the south side of Suhuarita Road. We found the trailhead behind them. We obviously didn't look very hard when we checked for the trail here a few years ago. When we got to the gate through the fence, there was a sign indicating that the land was State Trust Land, and a permit was required to enter. Fortunately there was a phone number for information. We gave it a call, and explained to the receptionist that we wanted to hike on the Arizona Trail. He told us that was no problem, as the Trail has an easement to go through State Trust Lands. However, we were not permitted to go and investigate anything we saw that was off the trail.
We read the description of 'the Arizona National Scenic Trail'. It runs for 800 miles from the Mexican border at Coronado Memorial, which we visited a few weeks ago, going north through deserts, mountains, canyons, wilderness, historic points and communities. It gains and looses thousands of feet along the way, climbing over mountain ranges and the Mogollon Rim (near Flagstaff), and through the Grand Canyon, ending on the Utah border near the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument.
There are direction signs along the trail at points where there might be doubt about which way to go. They are easier to read on the north side, as the sun has thoroughly faded the south sides. The trail in this area is through a veritable cactus garden. The variety of plants was impressive. There were more flowers here than we usually see in the desert, probably because of the recent rains.
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| Desert flowers |
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| Fishhook barrel cactus budding |
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| Joshua trees |
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| flowering ocotillo |
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| Interesting shape |
We could see the snow on the top of the mountains around us.
The trail is well defined, but is only one person wide. From the tracks, it looks like it is primarily used by bicyclers. We encountered a runner near the beginning of the trail, and had a bit of a chat with him. We asked him if the road to Helvetia ghost town was open yet. He said that there is a guard that turns vehicles back on the road. When we told him that we had checked out who was looking at reopening the mine and found they were a Canadian company, he asked us if they were the criminals they seemed. We told him that they had applied for the water permits that they required, and had shelved the project when they were unsuccessful.
We followed the trail south on a gradual uphill slope to the 2.0 mile point, according to our GPS, before returning. Just before we turned back, we met a couple heading back. Almost back at the trailhead, we met another couple with a pre-schooler just heading out.
Saturday, we returned to parking area at Suhuarita Road. From there, the AZ trail goes south toward I-10 for about half a mile before going over a hiker cattle guard gate,
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| Hikers cattle guard |
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| Cow keeping an eye on us |
On the drive back from the trailhead, we were waved down by a woman with a bicycle. She asked if we had cables to give her truck a boost. They only had half a set of cables, with a connector to plug in the other half. Weird. We checked the bin in the box of the truck where we used to have our cables, but they weren't there. She thanked us for stopping, and said she would try to get someone else. The next truck behind us stopped too, so hopefully they were able to get the truck started. A few days later, Joan noticed the cables in the back seat of the truck.
Sunday, we drove to the little parking area, big enough for one, maybe two, vehicles, where the AZ Trail crosses Old Sonoita Highway.
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| Trailhead |
Monday, we were surprised to see warning messages about ice and snow on the freeway as we drove to the Gabe Zimmerman Trailhead. The trailhead is a memorial to the shooting in Tucson of congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford and 18 other people. There is a trail from here to the Cienega Creek Wildlife Area. A free permit is required to go there, presumably to limit the number of people. Our trip for the day was a 2 mile section of the AZ Trail heading south to the location at which we turned around the previous day. A couple with a dog headed off ahead us. We never saw them again, so they must have gone much further. We met a woman with a pit bull, under tight control. She had moved off the trail to let the couple go by, and then again for us. The dog was wearing a 'coat' to keep warm. The trail follows along the top ridge of the Davidson Wash, which is deep enough to actually have a name. There is a big bridge on I-10 across the wash. However, only the horse traffic is directed on this route. Hikers and bikers head west to a smaller wash with a concrete tunnel going under the freeway.
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| snakes mouth tunnel entry |
The trail wandered up from the tunnel, maintaining a reasonable grade as it went around the top end of washes where it could, rather than crossing them. We continued until we got to the location we had stopped on the previous day. On the way back, we met about 5 cyclers on their way up. Then we saw a couple of dirt bikers going along a maintenance road next to a cable line.
Tuesday morning our satellite reception was low, not good enough for the high-def channels. It turned out we had a winter storm overnight that left about .5 in of wet snow on everything except bare ground. We just had to clear the snow off the dish. The snow was already melting on the vehicles and buildings.
Wednesday morning, we had even more snow.
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| unusual snowfall |
The park started to fill up with horse trailers with living quarters, a pen full of cattle and a bunch of cutting horse competitors.
Thursday was one of the coldest mornings we have seen here, since it cleared off late Wednesday, so we did a bit of shopping and a short walk around the park, where we caught up with Rupert and Helen who were doing the same.
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